Hi and the Significance of Musical Theater

Hi everyone! My name is Josh and I am one of the sound apprentices. I am really excited for this experience and hope to learn a lot. Anyways, it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do for my first blog post. Previously I thought I would write about my experiences with the sound side of things but that hasn’t happened yet so it will have to be in a blog to come. During the discussion in our last Tuesday class, however, I had many thoughts on the topic of the importance of musical theater but I didn’t say any of them so I have decided to put them in this blog. In regards to the importance of musical theater in general, we spent a lot of time talking about how many of the modern Broadway musicals have become superficial and commercialized. I completely agree with the following statement that they reveal the importance of money and the economy, but I also think they can provide insight into the culture at the time. During the discussion, I tried to think of the most superficial song and the one I came up with was Popular from Wicked. While at first this song appears to be just an upbeat, peppy song about fashion and makeup, it can provide so much more. This superficial song really portrays the societal importance on being popular that I think everyone feels, especially younger people. People have an innate desire to be popular and loved by everyone and while this song exaggerates it for comic effect, it can still be used to analyze our current society and culture. I’m not saying that this song is particularly deep, but I think it holds more importance than critics of musical theater as an area of study allow. Well, that was one of my thoughts. Let me know what you guys think!